Протесты в Белграде 1991 года.

Series of protests in 1991

The following day, February 17, the commentary got published in its entirety in that day's issue of Politika ekspres daily. Drašković's response to this blatant misuse of the media was to demand an immediate retraction, but several days later on February 19 TV Belgrade management, specifically its news division chief Predrag Vitas, turned him down explaining that "retractions are issued only in the cases of dissemination of inaccurate information, but not for commentaries". Still, while the immediate cause for the demonstration was ostensibly specific and narrow, this protest also had a wider ideological aspect. From its very name Protest against red star over to numerous examples of royalist insignia among the crowds, Drašković was very much whipping up old Chetnik – Partisan issues that were at the time beginning to be talked about again publicly after almost 50 years. When SPO called the protest for March 9, DS was on the fence. Their relationship with SPO at the time was somewhat on the cool side because two of DS prominent figures, Kosta Čavoški (one of the 13 founders) and Nikola Milošević (high ranking member), recently left the party to form their own and were now openly co operating with SPO. On top of that, ideologically speaking, the two parties had very little in common other than their general anti Milošević stance. And this protest initially was not clearly anti Milošević as much as it was brought on by the feud SPO had with state TV. In the end, no DS members were on the list of speakers but many still decided to show up at the protest in their individual capacity. The motives for the protest varied. It has been variously described as an anti war protest, Other opposition parties, including the Democratic Party (DS), People's Peasant Party (NSS), People's Radical Party (NRS), New Democracy (ND), Democratic Forum, and Liberal Party, joined and supported the set of demands. In the days leading up to the protest Milošević seemed intent not to let it take place. On Thursday, March 7, the city of Belgrade police branch issued a special junction banning the protest while citing "the location and the time of day when the rally is scheduled as disruptive to the public order and unobstructed flow of traffic". As an alternative, they suggested the wide open space at Ušće as the location for the protest, but SPO immediately refused to move the protest location. Simultaneously, the scheduled speakers, including Drašković, had trouble making it into the square. Along with his entourage consisting of some 200 SPO members, a little after 11:30 a. m. Drašković was being held at the intersection of November 29 Street and Vašingtonova Street, surrounded by the police cordon that didn't want to let them join the protesters at the Republic Square. He tried to reason with them, appealing with their chiefs to let him into the square "in order to calm the crowd and prevent bloodshed". Estimates on the number of people in the crowd vary: under 70,000, around 100,000,

Realizing very few could hear him, Drašković then decided to seek permission from nearby National Theater personnel to address the crowds from its balcony, which provided a nice view of the entire square. Permission was granted by then director Vida Ognjenović (incidentally a prominent DS member), so Drašković took to the balcony and began a fiery speech often interrupted by thunderous applause:

Serbia, may God give us the dawn of freedom in our homeland as well. I'm not going to tell you everything that has happened since this morning; we all broke through different police barriers and therein showed that no obstacle will stop us. I salute you, heroes! I said it a month ago – even when the Bolsheviks didn't believe me – and I'll say it again right this moment: today, in front of our righteous Prince [referring to the statue of Prince Mihailo Obrenović that dominates the square, and especially in a few moments when we start marching on TV Bastille, we will show Serbian heart and we will show Serbian persistence. Unfortunately, we have no other way! Heroes, I remind you of the words of our pan Serbian patriarch of our pan Serbian mind, vladika Njegoš: ‘Svak je rođen za po jednom mreti’. They've got until 3:30 p. m. to issue a retraction and tender resignations and if they do that we'll return here to this pan Serb gathering of national unity. Because of the brutal police charge on the unarmed people, we also demand that the Minister of the Interior resign at the very next parliamentary session. The President of the Republic [Slobodan Milošević] has to weigh between two choices in front of him: on one end of the scale are your lives as well as lives of many policemen because I heard our boys seized a lot of automatic weaponry in fights with police today – on that scale there are so many lives, Serbia's freedom, honour, and peace – while on the other end of the scale there are only 5 resignations and 1 retraction. Let the President decide what he wants, I have made my choice: I will lead the charge on Television today, fully ready to die! His last proclamation put the present police squadron (led by Milošević loyalist Radovan "Badža" Stojičić) in full alert mode. After Drašković finished, other people took the microphone, among them Milan Paroški, Žarko Jokanović, Leon Koen, Milan Komnenić and Borislav Mihajlović Mihiz. Dragoslav Bokan and Borislav Pekić were also present. Around noon, in the middle of Mihiz's speech, police moved into the square with tear gas and a full blown battle began. However, overwhelmed and outnumbered by the crowd the police retreated while trying to keep the angry protesters in check with water cannons. The situation was deteriorating by the second, flower beds were being overturned and broken off into smaller pieces of concrete to be thrown onto police vehicles. Drašković did not seem fazed by scenes of violence below, and if anything was only spurring them on. At one point he even bizarrely yelled "Juuuuuuriš" (Chaaaaaarge) into the microphone the way a field general would at the scene of battle. The protest then spilled into adjoining streets and squares and most of the downtown Belgrade soon resembled a war zone. By this time, the police managed to regroup and reinforce their numbers and began responding and attacking a lot more forcefully. Still, for about seven hours the protesters almost controlled the city as the majority of the police was guarding the TV Belgrade building and Dedinje. According to sources, some 200 policemen and 180 security guards in addition to 200 television staffers with basic military training who were given AK 47s were guarding the television building. In the afternoon, Drašković, along with a large group of protesters, unsuccessfully attempted to storm the National Assembly of Serbia session. As he exited the building, he was arrested along with SPO deputy president Jovan Marjanović. Among the policemen handling Drašković's arrest was Naser Orić. Serbian President Slobodan Milošević demanded that the Presidency of Yugoslavia deploys troops of the Yugoslav People's Army to suppress the protest. Borisav Jović contacted other members of the Presidency by phone and the Army was indeed deployed, but the Slovenians later claimed the move was made unconstitutionally. In the evening, Milošević took to the public airwaves to address the nation. While not mentioning anyone by name he characterized the day's events as being orchestrated by "forces of chaos and madness threatening to restore everything that the people of Serbia rose against half a century ago". Tanks and armored cars rolled onto the streets. while others say he was killed by a rubber bullet when a group of policemen on the corner of Admirala Geprata Street and Kneza Miloša street opened fire in the direction of protesters in front of London Cafe. The investigation into his death was recently reopened.

The next day, March 10, Belgrade awoke to the anti opposition headline "Rušilački pohod" (Destructive Crusade) on the front page of Politika, the most important of the four dailies being published in the city at the time. Edited by the Milošević loyalist Žika Minović, the rest of that day's issue was not much different — of the 51 total pieces about the previous day's events, 49 presented a strong condemnation of the opposition, SPO, and Drašković. Večernje novosti, edited by Rade Brajović, ran a fairly balanced March 10 issue, mostly covering the events neutrally and avoiding emotional outbursts in favour of either side. However, according to the paper's journalist Miroslav Turudić, at the staff meeting that very Sunday evening the editor in chief Brajović objected to the paper's coverage of the protests. Along with deciding to steer the coverage in the following day's issue clearly to the Milošević's side, Brajović also published a commentary in which he openly criticizes his staff's previous coverage of the protests. DS held a press conference with its president Dragoljub Mićunović as well as members Zoran Đinđić and Vojislav Koštunica on hand, voicing support to arrested Drašković and SPO while condemning government actions. Đinđić described the events of the previous day as "the police carrying out a plan, a one man's personal plan, one man who decided that this protest cannot and will not happen" going on to say that "the catastrophe occurred due to the inability of those giving orders to the police to adapt to the rapidly changing situation on the ground". During late evening hours, a large crowd again began to gather, but this time in front of the Terazije fountain. The protest now assumed a more civil tone, although there were still incidents on Branko's Bridge when a group of 5,000 University of Belgrade students heading into the city centre from their residence in Studentski Grad in order to join the protesters got stopped by police. Pepper spray was used and some of the students were beaten, but all of them were eventually allowed to pass through and join the crowd at Terazije (among the individuals negotiating with the police on the bridge was a Democratic Party (DS) member Zoran Đinđić). Gatherings in front of the Terazije fountain were notably led and moderated by actor Branislav Lečić with various figures from Serbian public life such as screenwriter Dušan Kovačević, actor Rade Šerbedžija, and even Serbian Patriarch Pavle taking turns addressing the crowd. In his speeches, Lečić often referred to the rally as "Velvet Revolution" while holding a stuffed panda toy and drawing parallels with the Czechoslovak protests of November 1989. The protest also expanded in terms of the political figures that joined it with DS members now officially taking part. The anti government component was now much more prominently displayed among the crowds. The protesters, composed largely of students, demanded freedom for Drašković and Jovan Marjanović. In addition to earlier protests for the resignation of Dušan Mitević, they now wanted the Minister of Interior Radmilo Bogdanović to resign too. They also sought the lifting of the broadcast ban for Radio B92 and RTV Studio B.

On March 11, the Serbian government regrouped by organising a mass counter rally at their old stomping grounds Ušće. Called under the name "For the defense of the Republic, for constitutionality, freedom, and democracy", the rally attempted to show that protesters at the Republic Square and Terazije in no way represented the wishes and desires of the majority of the Serbian population. Using previously developed and tested astroturfing methods, they bussed many workers into Belgrade from other parts of Serbia for the occasion and also used its grip on state TV to inflate the crowd size. Still, a good portion of the crowd was there on its own volition, especially older individuals and many pensioners that were always Milošević's core support. Instead of Milošević addressing the gathered crowd, the speaking was left to his party's most publicly prominent members and ideologues at the time: Mihailo Marković, Dušan Matković, Živorad Igić, Radoman Božović, Petar Škundrić, etc. The most controversial speech of the day was Matković's, at times referring to protesters as "hooligans" and inciting their own supporters to "do away with them".

The protests persisted and after four days of mostly peaceful demonstration (there were further skirmishes with police on March 11), they achieved their aims: Drašković and Marjanović were freed and Mitević and Bogdanović were replaced. The demonstrations ended after March 14.